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Randy Pausch does not have to update his webpage for you to know what his current state of health is. Just watch the video of the commencement. At the end of the video of Randy’s speech at the commencement Randy picked his wife up and carried her off stage. If you are still having trouble with “wrapping your head around that” then let me help you understand. It means Randy is healthy; he is not dying and he never was dying.

Most of your readers seem to think that the purpose of fraud is so that someone can make themself a martyr. I, on the other hand, am fairly certain that the purpose of fraud is so that someone can enjoy things that they are not legitimately entitled to. Randy Pausch is a fraud. No matter what he posts on his website I guarantee you he won’t be dead in 5 years.

I am really going to be disappointed if Randy’s “Last Lecture” ends up being his magnum opus. I think that co-authoring “How To Master Profiting From Fraud” with James Frey would be a much stronger book.

I appreciate and support free speech as well. Though De selby’s comments, immediately above mine, do not containing profanity, they do make false claims about Dr. Pausch’s health stated as fact. I’m sure you have your own legal advice but it’s possible that these statements and further statements about fraud are defamatory. Personally, I think that kind of groundless criticism is needlessly and maliciously hurtful and shouldn’t have to wait for Pausch’s family to run across and dignify with a response before removal. I respect your call of course and even hesitate to send this note as I don’t particulatly want De selby to think that he/she’s had any kind of audience. Feel free to not publish this comment.

de selby is making some broad assumptions based on a one-size fits all theory. That’s not the case with cancer or any illness for that matter. People recover and respond and die in their own ways. If de selby is guilty of anything, it’s the need to be right instead of compassionate.

I do fully expect de selby to come back here if Dr. Pausch should pass (and lets hope he beats this somehow), and issue an apology. If he doesn’t, then I’ll ban him for the site.

And should the professor recover, it doesn’t mean he was right. It means he was extremely lucky to be part of the very small percentage that survives pancreatic cancer.

I assure you that if I am wrong there will be many blogs that I will post apologies to but I know that I am not wrong. This is fraud and nothing more.

R.W.
You and I frequently disagree (obviously) but let me help you understand something once again; you said above that my statements are misguided. Do you understand what “misguided” means? If you do and you have read more than 2 lines of my postings then you know that you are using that word out of context. The strident level of my objections stems from FACTS that have guided my opinion about Randy Pausch. I find it absolutely amazing that people who have never spent more than 5 minutes researching Randy declare themselves “experts” on his veracity. It is one of the many amazing things about this story.

MCM,
Do you know what the strongest defense against an allegation of of defamation is? Of course you don’t but I”m pulling for you to go back to school so that maybe you will one day. The strongest defense against an allegation of defamation is the truth. Even though you may not like the things that I write EVERYTHING I have EVER written about Randy is the truth based on facts. You said that I have made false statements; help me see the truth in your statement MCM. If you can do that then you have more power than you may be aware of. Offer any proof at all that Randy has truly been diagnosed with ductal adenocarcinoma and not only will I stop posting here but I will stop posting everywhere. But, “proof” does not mean the nonsense that Randy posts on his website. As offended as you are of my comments MCM, I am equally offended that someone like Randy would choose to lie about dying from pancreatic cancer solely for his own selfish gain. A clue: He’s NOT dying and he never was and he’s picked up $7M along the way. I want you to know that every night before I go to sleep I thank God that I was not created as gullible as you and the others who blindly believe this story in spite of all of the evidence that exposes it for the fraud that it is.

R.W.
you also said above that if Randy “recovers” then that does not mean I was right. I’m going to have to disagree with you again over that because I have said since September 18, 2007 that Randy will eventually declare he was “magically cured”. When he eventually makes that declaration (which could be years from now) it will be the most cogent evidence to date that this is not only fraud but predictable fraud. For all of those that hope Randy “beats pancreatic cancer”, be patient; he will.

A letter from the President? Are you kidding me? He received a letter from the President of the United States and there is NOTHING wrong with him. If I were an “if you can’t beat them, join them person” I would have been faining illnesses and writing books about it a long time ago because he has set the gold standard in that area. Maybe I could say I suffer from excessive exposure to reflected moon light? Or, I’m allergic to the color green? Bet no one has those yet.

Instead I’m in the mood to celebrate. Everyone should celebrate Randy being alive and that includes me. Even though he was never really dying to begin with it is always OK to celebrate life; I don’t want anyone to die, even someone as flawed and disgraceful as Randy Pausch. For some of you that celebration will obviously begin by picking up an extra bottle of Night Train on the way back to the trailer park but what ever works for you. I recommend that you really tear one up this weekend and celebrate the great news:

For those of you who don’t know, de Selby is our resident skeptic and villian. He has no proof that the professor is lying about his illness. Unforutnately, Randy is dying of pancreatic cancer, and there is no evidence that suggest otherwise.

de Selby, don’t bother responding with your defense of your position. I’ve read them all ready. No need to rehash old bits of information I don’t care to read again.

No rehash but a response to your statement of there being “no evidence” to prove he is lying: R.W. there is also no evidence, certainly none you have provided, to prove he is telling the truth but there are many, many, many convenient “coincidences” with this story. Those convenient coincidences are for gullible people to believe. I will never be one of them because I don’t think I’m right about Randy; I know I’m right.

I did my part to celebrate Randy Pausch this weekend. I’m not an alcoholic, like I’m sure many of Randy’s believers are, so I celebrated with a glass of sweet tea (spiked with a slice of lemon). It was good stuff.

Let’s celebrate again on June 14, 2009. You want to know a secret? Randy will still be alive then.

– What is the ONLY source of information available to the general public about the actual health/condition of Randy Pausch?
– What verifiable proof of Randy’s condition has ever been presented to the public?
– And if some don’t think Randy owes proof to the public of his diagnosis then I have one final question; who will ultimately pay for his book? A hint: It certainly won’t be Hyperion.

Randy Pausch is not dying but he does deserve an Oscar for his acting abilities; he clearly intends to milk his apocryphal story for all it’s worth.

Predictions:
1. Randy said in one of his NUMEROUS videos that his doctor’s are now saying that he has a 100% chance of dying before January 1, 2009. I guarantee you he will not be dead by that date. I am not fooled by his CA19.9 scores; I know that is a smoke screen and it doesn’t work on me. I can make the guarantee that he won’t die because Randy was never dying to begin with. I am amazed that he continues to make predictions of his death. I have found that beating Randy in his predictions is as simple as predicting the opposite of what he predicts. So far, I’m 100% correct in ALL of my predictions about Randy and he is hovering at 0%. Great prediction abilities. Perhaps I should believe he is still alive because of some miracle from the medical arts and sciences? Nah, I’m going to remain with my belief of him being a greedy liar that has done all of this for money and is responsible for the most disgraceful lie I have heard in my lifetime.
2. I also predict that most of you idiots will continue to be amazed at Randy’s ability to “beat death” and it will never occur to you that it is sort of easy to beat death if you were never really dying to begin with. None of you realize that your ONLY source of information about Randy is what Randy provides you himself. Can you see what is wrong with that (especially when $7M is involved)? Of course you can’t because most of you are mentally incompetent. I can demonstrate what’s wrong with someone being the only source of information on them self: I just returned from the moon 10 minutes ago. I created a machine that can spin straw into gold yesterday. I died of a heart attack 3 days ago and spent 2 days performing CPR on myself to revive myself. Still don’t see what’s wrong with a person being the only source of info on themself? That person can say anything…. like “poor me, I’m dying from cancer so pay me $7M”. And, it never has to be validated…. yeah the Randy Pausch story is real. Just as real as my recent trip to the moon.
When people say “live the American dream” what they are really talking about is money. Large sums of money seems to be the only thing that really matters anymore in this country. We will now do just about anything for money. Randy Pausch is proof of that.

Something that I found interesting about this page:
– The link titled “cute page” talks about Jai going to Spain without Randy and their children. I’ll just give that one the “Me” test; is it something I would do if I honestly thought my spouse was dying “any day now”. Absolutely not. If I thought my wife could literally die at anytime because of an illness I would never leave the county let alone the country. The Randy Pausch story is nothing but a story of lies.

– On Randy’s webpage he actually posted a section that talks about Jai staying at a hotel for Mother’s day. The way that section is written it seems to be saying she stayed there alone. If that is true, then I guess she’s finally getting tired of the lies too.

I predict that sometime between now and 3 years from now (July 5, 2011) Randy Pausch will declare that he has been “magically cured”. He has painted himself in a corner and has no choice but to do that. I assure you he will not be dead 3 years from today; surely even the most stupid of his believers will expect some account for that “miracle”.

This is a problem shared by people in this country who receive disability benefits for a number of serious illnesses: the “good day, bad day” problem. Not everyone coping with significant morbidity is 100% unable to do anything 24/7. It is quite possible Mr. Pausch could pick up his wife on one occasion and yet be dying of cancer. What I do wish Mr. Pausch were well enough to do, however, were to remind his worldwide audience that his brave fight s possible because he clearly is financially secure and also has excellent access to the best health care the US has to offer. Thousands of his fellow citizens who do not have his fame/fortune are routinely denied such access, however positive and determined their attitudes might also be. I wish Mr. Pausch well and pray he recovers. I also wish the President and others in positions of power would rethink the effects of their policies on the many US citizens who struggle daily with issues such as being unable to survive financially once illness strikes. There are gaping holes in our disability programs and ability to access them, and being unable to always work and keep health care coverage with them. Our barriers to access to care, and even a societal hatred many seem to now have towards people who get sick, mean fixing our safety net is going to be difficult. See some vitriolic comments on the ABC news site today responding to the cuts in Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements for physicians for an example! Even with M/M over 18,000 Americans die each year due to lack of health insurance. Mr. Pausch lives well while they die, which is not in any way intended to criticize Mr. Pausch, but instead to point out that as a society we are quick to offer sympathy in individual cases that we happen to learn the details of but are also quick to ocndemn those of whom we know nothing.

Jim (and everyone else who keeps saying “I hope Randy recovers”),
Please be patient; I promise you Randy will recover (if you can call it recovery since he was never dying to begin with) and he is not dying anytime soon. The remainder of his life is measured in years and there are a lot of them left for him. He will not die today, tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year. I love how everyone says it is impossible for someone to lie over $7M dollars; that’s a truly intelligent group of people that make such naive statements. As far as “societal hatred” goes, I’m not sure if that was directed at my comments but let me respond this way: I do not hate Randy Pausch. However, I am absolutely offended by what he has done. I know that I am not wrong about Randy; he is lying and this has been done for money. I will go a step further and say that I seriously doubt that there is anyone on earth that wants Randy to stay alive more than I do. As long as Randy is alive then I am right. I’ll bet that I’m right for many years to come because he is not dying and he has NEVER been diagnosed with adenocarcinoma. How did Lloyd Bentsons words to Dan Quayle go? “I knew Jack Kennedy and senator, you are no Jack Kennedy”. My slight variation of that statement goes like this: I know cancer and Randy Pausch is NOT dying from cancer. If he were actually dying it would probably be from guilt over all of the lies that he has told and PROFITED from.

Randy’s words from his apocryphal speech were “admit when you have made a mistake and always tell the truth”. Is there any chance at all that Randy will eventually follow his own words? I doubt it too.

I think that Randy would have to pull the wool over a lot of people’s eyes to be lying about something like cancer. His wife, his kids, his Carnegie Mellon colleagues, his doctor….if there is any fraud don’t you think the folks at M D Anderson, a internationally regarded cancer hospital in Houston) would have spoken up by now?
I’m pulling for Randy to make it…… and, no, I have not bought or read his book…yet.

I knew Randy years ago in college. He was always an extremely truthful person. I also do not see how anyone could have their health situation known and referenced by so many people, including medical professionals, and get away with it being a Big Lie. It is really hard to imagine that anyone would wake up one day and say “Hey! I’m going to pretend to have pancreatic cancer!”. It sounds like maybe someone is jealous of Randy’s book deal? 🙂 Well, as a person with a serious illness as well (systemic lupus — no, not making it up! Heh) and living in poverty thanks to it, I’m happy Randy’s wife and children will have that money. I lost my father to lung cancer at age 6, and it is really hard to have a parent die when you are young. Money cannot compensate for the loss of a person but at least it means that finances will be one less challenge to cope with. I hope the book continues to sell very well. I have not read it yet as I just got a copy (for other penny-savers, Target has it on sale) and have not had a chance to start it. But I should be able to read it soon. I’m glad to have known the author. Hope he is able to live much longer and spend time with his family.

Ken,
I keep thinking that it simply can’t continue amaze me and yet it does; each posting that I read in this blog, from other people, is actually more mindless than the one before it. I have no idea what you do for a living but I can tell you what you DON’T do. You are in no way associated with the health care profession; I’m certain of that. If you were, you would realize how ridiculous most of your statements are.
Let’s go through it:
“Randy would have to pull the wool over a lot of people’s eyes”. Really? You know, in the health care profession there are those little things called HIPAA and about a ton of other privacy laws that ensure that no one should ever know anything about patient sensitive data EXCEPT WHAT THE PATIENT WANTS THEM TO KNOW. So, are you sure he would have to actively “pull the wool over people’s eyes”? I’m sure he doesn’t.

He would have to fool his wife? Get with the program Ken; she knows he is not dying.

He would have to fool his children? Randy has said repeatedly that he wasn’t telling his children about the illness.

He would have to fool his doctor? At this point, I’m wondering if your brain is capable of normal functions and thoughts. His doctor, and those at MD Anderson, are not allowed to call a news conference and discuss patient sensitive data unless Randy authorizes it. This will come as a complete shock to you but the medical profession is not run like the local bar. There are rules that must be followed. Randy’s lies do not require the enormous conspiracy to be successful that you seem to think they would; all that is required for Randy’s success is that his doctors conduct themselves as medical professionals and follow the rules and regulations associated with the profession. Nothing more than that, and a whole lot of greed, is required for Randy to successfully do what he has done.

If you haven’t bought the book yet, you would impress me beyond my ability to describe it with words if you DON’T buy the book. It is a book that has made him wealthy based on fraud. Show some intelligence by not contributing to his fraud.

R.W.,
If you have carefully examined my postings then you should know that I have NEVER claimed to know alot about Randy Pausch. The extent of my knowledge of Randy has been gathered from the web. The only thing that I have ever claimed to know about Randy is that he is NOT dying; and I am right about that.

Regarding 20 questions: I’m not interested. Could I be an oncologist? I could be a lot of things R.W.; like maybe a janitor that just happens to pay very careful attention to what the oncologists are saying while I’m sweeping their office. R.W. I’m not going to tell you anything about my identity or my profession and I’m also not going to play your silly game. However, you do deserve some credit for getting it right so I will tell you that your first sentence is correct about me. I do have awful people skills; That must be true because a very large number of people tell me that every week. I hear it from colleagues, family members, and even friends. But, I don’t care. If I am right about something (and I usually am) I don’t care if it upsets other people. Today is July 16, 2008. Guess what? Randy is not dead. You remember Randy, right? He is the guy that went on national TV and repeatedly said that it was certain that he would be dead before March 2008. Well, evidently that prediction was a little off. It was not a bad tactic on his part though. He has been permitted to use the emotion that false statement generated to land a $7M book deal. It’s a funny thing that Randy’s predictions have not even come close to being correct yet, but everyone says that I’m wrong. And you wonder why I think most of you are idiots?

Beep,
You remind me of Corky from the TV series “Life Goes On”. If you don’t mind I’m going to call you Corky. Corky, Randy’s book deal is not the largest deal that has ever been struck and Randy is not even close to being one of the wealthiest people in the world. If my statements were motivated by jealousy over money then I would have chosen someone that actually has a lot of it. My comments reflect a personal attachment to cancer. It is not going to kill Randy and he has profited millions from his lies; it has however, killed several members of my family. Why are my words so mean spirited? Because what Randy has done offends me. Have a good day Corky and please remember that it is still not ok to touch the stove.

I hope to never be in a situation where I am drowning and the only person near to “save” me sould be deSelby… I imagine he would yell something like this.. “Hey stupid, you are not drowning, learn to swim and come to shore”.
I pity the person that has to rely on him to save from death.

MissDemeanour,
Once again someone posting to this blog has confirmed my belief that the average person who believes that Randy is dying functions mentally as someone would who is suffering from mental retardation. I hate to disappoint you but I AM NOT LOOKING FOR RESPONSES FROM ANY OF YOU IDIOTS. I do not post here for social interaction. In fact, in my mind my postings are perfect until one of you decides to respond to it. I only post so that there will be at least one person on earth who posts the truth about Randy. Personally, I INVITE ALL OF YOU IDIOTS TO FOLLOW MissDemeanour’s ADVICE AND STOP POSTING TO THIS BLOG. You are cluttering my messages.

Kirk,
You were almost right but I’m not as coldhearted as you think; I would have said “Hey stupid, kick and paddle!”

Great news R.W.,
This will be my last posting to your blog. Certainly wouldn’t want to upset the (insert euphemism for idiots) by calling them (insert euphemism for idiots). The news of my leaving this blog should make the (insert euphemism for idiots) very happy. I liked your blog back when I was the only one posting in it but now that there are so many (insert euphemism for idiots) posting here it is distracting from my message; which is the only reason I posted here to begin with. I certainly did not post here to communicate with or exchange ideas with (insert euphemism for idiots).

Dear (insert euphemism for idiots),
Randy Pausch is not dying. He will still be alive 10 years from today; I guarantee it. I truly hope that there will come a day when all of you stop marrying your cousins, or whatever you are doing down in the trailer park, that makes you such (insert euphemism for stupid idiots). What Randy has done does not require a medical degree to see; all that it requires is some common sense but none of you (insert euphemism for idiots) seem to have any.

As of July 24th, Randy Pausch is no longer able to blog his updates. He has enrolled in a hospice and is very weak. The doctors discovered that the cancer has spread and Randy is very sick. Keep him in prayers.

I am so sad to hear that Randy is in hospice now. And what makes me mad is the stuff that deSelby is writing. He is the one spreading un-truths. Randy has fought this fight bravely and with courage. It looks like the end is near, and now it’s probably for the better, because the cancer is taking over and spreading. I feel so bad for his family. His family seems like such a sweet family. They certainly don’t deserve cruel comments like deSelby made about being fraudulent; no one does, ever!

Randy, we love you man and you’ve fought one heck of a fight. Your positive attitude and energy have been refreshing. I know that cancer was painful and miserable for you, but your blogs showed your love for the Lord and you kept optimistic.

It’s looking bleak, but I know that the Pausch family is staying strong and I pray that they get some good family time with Randy if in fact this is the end of his life.

de selby is probably not liking this much, but he was wrong…. pardon the pun… dead wrong. I would expect a man of integrity to return and apologize to everyone that he insulted, called names etc because we all were pulling for Randy to survive as long as he could. A man of character would humble himself to do this. Even though de selby told us he wasn’t going to post here anymore, I’m sure he is reading this and should do the right thing… but then again it would take a man of character and integrity to do so.

I would like to post an apology to this blog.
When I heard on the news yesterday that Professor Pausch died I was not just shocked; I was floored. Before hearing that he had passed away my brain simply could not believe that he was actually dying. So many people told me that he was dying and that his story was true but I just could not believe it. Most of my life cancer has been in my family. None of my family members with a terminal diagnosis looked like Professor Pausch did when he gave his last lecture. Because of the way he looked, and the book deal that followed his speech, I felt certain that his story was another example of someone exploiting something for money. Because of the pain that cancer has caused in my family it disturbed me to think that his story was not real and that he got a book deal out of it. And if any other blogger disagreed with my comments, I would say that they were stupid for not being able to see what I thought I could see. I now realize that I am the most cynical, bitter, and stupid person that I know. Professor Randy Pausch was a far better man and a better human being than I will ever be.
I deserve any of things that people may now decide to post about me. I will not object to any of it because I assure you that right now I’m saying a lot of those same things to myself. In my stupid mind I was 100% certain that Professor Pausch would not die for many years. That shows how stupid I am. I am a very stupid person. The news of his death yesterday has me literally feeling physically ill. Before his death I felt so certain that I was right about the things I previously wrote but I now know that everything I have written about Professor Pausch was wrong and I am sorry for writing those things.

Well, at least de Selby had the guts to apologize for his previous comments on Randy. I expected no less of him (de Selby), and he came through, albeit somewhat in shock, as expected. Randy’s passing was a gut punch to us all who were pulling for him.

With terminal cancer, attitude is everything in order to live longer, with a good quality of remaining life. My brother’s wife lived a vital, active life and worked up until 10 days of her passing. She and Randy had everything and attitude in common; just different cancers. Her friends were shocked at her death; they didn’t realize that she was so close to death as she appeared healthy. Just so as de Selby is now shocked, and contrite; so were they. No, you are not stupid, but you have learned an important lesson of life: never take things at face value, or the appearance of health. Attitude is indeed everything, and optimism is far better then pessimism when dealing with anything.

There is no greater charity than forgiveness and no greater sign of humanity than to forgive those who seek forgiveness (no matter the circumstances). So guys how about it for de Selby, forgive and be a better person for it. Love and peace to you all.

I am deeply sadden by the loss of Randy Pausch. Thank you RW and those who kept us up to date. My thoughts go to his family and friends. May we find a cure soon so no others go through such devasting experiences.

Not to remove the focus from the Pausch family but this is directed to “de Selby” – thank you for sharing that. It took a lot of guts to post here again after the things you’d said previously. Thank you for having the courage to not only recognize your mistakes but also to apologize for them. One of the things Randy Pausch said was that people will eventually show you their good side if you’re patient enough. I’m not sure I agree with that, but you’ve brought me a little closer to thinking maybe he was right.

Well, I did it… I finally am the owner of the book called “The Last Lecture”…. and de selby, you are a true gentlemen coming back here to make it right. I forgive you and ask that you also forgive us (or some of us) for our bad attitudes toward you.
Thanks

I am working on Book Seven of The Oz Chronicles. I promise. I had planned on calling it The Actuals, and I had even written a few chapters, but recently I sat on the train to New York for two hours, and a wild, practically impossible idea came to me, so, of course, I want […]

R.W. Ridley

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